Metallica - Reload (Remastered) [2LP]

Reload was born in the same marathon sessions as Load, and this remastered edition presents Metallica's 1997 album on 180 gram double vinyl.

Working with producer Bob Rock in the mid-1990s, the band came out of the studio with more songs than one album could hold. Load arrived first, and the remaining tracks were finished and released a year later as its companion. Both records found Metallica trading thrash precision for swagger, blues-rock grit and looser, groove-heavy songwriting, a turn that still sparks lively debate among fans.

Opener "Fuel" became a live staple almost instantly, all revving engines and shouted hooks. "The Memory Remains" pairs a stomping riff with Marianne Faithfull's haunting, wordless refrain, while "The Unforgiven II" revisits the Black Album ballad from a darker, more bruised angle.

The back half rewards patience, closing with "Fixxxer", an eight-minute slab of brooding heft that deserves far more attention than it usually gets. James Hetfield sings with a rougher, bluesier edge throughout, and Kirk Hammett's leads lean hard into wah-soaked phrasing.

Remastered and spread across four sides, it gives an often overlooked chapter of the Metallica story a fresh hearing, and completes the Load era for anyone who already owns its older sibling.